Working from home sounds like the dream, right, since you have no commute, comfy clothes, and lunch in your own kitchen. But over time, the line between “on the clock” & “off the clock” gets blurred, with many remote workers answering emails at odd hours or skipping breaks. Here are eleven ways remote work could sneakily mess with your sense of work-life separation. You might not even realize it’s happening.
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Your Computer Becomes Your Kitchen Buddy
Some people bring their laptops into the kitchen so they’re able to keep working while waiting for toast or coffee, which usually starts with quick tasks. But soon enough, it turns into a regular habit and the kitchen ends up becoming a second workspace. This means people stay in “work mode” even when they’re doing things like making breakfast or chopping vegetables, and that makes it harder to step away during the day.
Slippers Become a Signal You’re “On”
Lots of people used to wear slippers around the house as a way to feel relaxed, but now, those same slippers are just part of the daily work setup. You wake up & put them on, then sit down at your desk, which means you stop associating them with comfort or rest. They turn into part of the “uniform,” and you might not even notice the change, but your body does. It starts believing that soft shoes equal checking emails or sitting through meetings.
You Start Using Meeting Time to Fold Laundry
People working from home often take advantage of meetings where they don’t need to talk much. They’ll put the mic on mute, turn off the camera & fold laundry while someone else presents—some even tidy up their room while staying logged in. The line between housework and job responsibilities starts to blur, meaning that what used to be done in clearly separate times starts getting layered together. It becomes harder to focus on either one fully.
Lunchtime Becomes Screen Time
At the office, most people eat lunch away from their desk, whether it’s a trip to a café or just sitting in a different part of the office—but at home, lunch means eating with one hand while the other hand scrolls through Slack. Sometimes people even keep their video on during a meeting while eating, and that means the idea of being able to pause work during meals disappears. Instead, lunch ends up being just another part of the workday, with no real break from screens.
You Check Your Calendar Before Brushing Your Teeth
It’s the norm for people to look at their work calendar first thing in the morning, even before they’re fully awake. Some people check their phones before getting out of bed to see what meetings are coming up, while others do it while brushing their teeth. This habit puts work at the top of the mental to-do list before the day has even started, so remote workers aren’t able to ease into the day. They begin planning their work schedule while they’re still in pajamas.
Work Apps End Up on Personal Devices
Lots of remote workers install Slack, Teams, Gmail, or Zoom on their personal phones, which they’ll claim is for convenience, thinking it will help them respond if something urgent comes up. But what ends up happening is that their phone sends them work messages during dinner or while out shopping—perhaps even during personal time on weekends. Turning off notifications doesn’t always help, since people get used to checking those apps automatically.
You Schedule Personal Appointments Based on Work Hours
Instead of taking time off or using lunch breaks to handle personal stuff, remote workers often book things like doctor’s appointments or haircuts around their meeting schedule. They end up slotting personal errands into small gaps between work tasks, rather than actually having some time away. This means that their personal & work calendars get tangled, so it becomes hard to tell where one ends and the other begins.
Work Talk Becomes Part of Casual Conversations
After working remotely for a while, remote workers start bringing up work-related stuff during everyday conversations with family or roommates, although it’s not always complaining. It could be small updates or half-finished thoughts from earlier meetings—either way, there’s no separation between work & home. Talking about work becomes part of regular life, whether that’s during dinner or while watching TV.
You Stop Marking Days as Weekends
The difference between weekdays and weekends starts to fade for people who check emails or catch up on work during off-hours, which starts casually. They answer one message on Saturday or organize files on Sunday night—after a while, people stop treating weekends like real breaks. Remote workers just see them as “flex days” where they’re able to squeeze in a few work tasks if nothing else is planned.
You Leave Tabs Open Long After the Workday Ends
People often leave work-related tabs open on their browser, despite the fact that they’ve logged off for the day, because they may plan to come back “just for a second” to check something. However, that second turns into 20 minutes and the open tabs sit there as a mental reminder of unfinished tasks. It doesn’t matter if you’re done for the day because your brain stays partially plugged into work.
You Don’t Feel Like You’ve Earned a Break Without a Commute
Without the routine of going somewhere & coming back, some remote workers feel weird taking full breaks because they think they haven’t “done enough” to stop yet. As such, they stay online longer or keep tasks going into the evening, which means they’re unable to relax. The break that used to come naturally with a drive completely disappears.
Disclaimer: This list is solely the author’s opinion based on research and publicly available information.
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